


A place of our own.

by ArchangelC137



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 05:54:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14158227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArchangelC137/pseuds/ArchangelC137
Summary: Loki and Thor's relationship as they live on the space ship and after they finally reach Earth and find a place for themselves.





	A place of our own.

Loki teleported aboard the ship he had brought to Asgard for their people with the help of the teseract. When he landed, he tucked the teseract into a small bag and focused for a few moments in order to send it to the small vault he had made in an alternate universe.  
He sighed as the teseract vanished and let his hands fall to his sides. As he opened his eyes he took a long look around the room he had teleported into, and finds it is a small bedroom with a single bed and a washbasin.  
The bed looked so tempting to Loki, he was exhausted and could really use a few hours of sleep....or maybe a few days. But he knew he had to find Thor. His brother most likely thought him dead again, and unfortunately, fighting alongside Thor again had stirred something in Loki that had been dormant for years. A feeling deep in his chest that he thought had died when he had let go of Odin's spear and fallen into the void. After all that had happened to him while he was in Thanos' tender care he didn't think himself capable of feeling anything but the base hateful feelings such as hate.  
He turned from the bed and walked out the door, running into one of the many homeless Asgardians aboard the ship. "Oh, I'm sorry, please forgive me my Prince." She said as she bowed to him.  
"You have no reason to bow to me, and I should be the one apologizing, I walked into you." Loki said as he placed a hand on the woman's shoulder and brought her out of the unnecessary bow. "You can do something for me, however." He said with a glint in his eye. "You can point me in the direction of your King." The woman looked shocked but nodded and pointed back down the hall she had come from.  
"His room is at the end of this hall, the last door on the right." She said with a smile. "Thank you, Prince Loki, for helping us get away from Hela." Loki returns the smile if a little reluctantly.  
"You are very welcome. Though, really, there is no need to thank me. I did what any Prince would do." And he hadn't done it for the Asgardians anyhow. He had done it for Thor. "Thank you for the information, I won't hold you up any longer...." Loki looked down at her, turning his eyes from the hallway. "Sorry, what was your name?" The young girl blushed.  
"My name is Thena, Prince Loki." She bowed only her head this time, and Loki inclined his head back to her.  
"Well, I thank you, Thena." Loki said as he started down the hall. "I will most likely see you around the ship." He waved a little and she waved back.

Loki came to the room that Thena had identified as Thor's and stood just beside the open door as he listened to his not-brother walking around. Loki had to take a few deep breaths to calm himself before he stepped around the corner, hearing the clinking of bottles.  
The first thing Loki saw in the reflection of the mirror was that Thor had put an eye patch over his missing eye, and when Thor turned and Loki got a better look his first words were, "It suits you." Which had not been what he was planning on saying.  
Thor huffed a chuckle and picked up the stopper to the bottle he had just poured himself a drink from. "You know, maybe your not so bad after all brother." He said as he tossed the bottle stopper into the air, catching it as it came back down.  
"Maybe not." Loki said with a slight smile on his face. Not big enough to draw attention to, but Loki was sure Thor had noticed.  
"Thank you. If you were here I might even give you a hug." Thor said as he tossed the bottle stopper at Loki, who caught it with ease.  
"I'm here." Loki reassured as he dropped his arm to his side, the bottle stopper knocking against his leg slightly. He was conflicted, he wanted that hug but was too prideful to ask for it.  
Something in his face must have tipped Thor off because he took two steps forward and wrapped his arms around Loki's shoulders. "I am glad you are here, brother." Thor whispered as he squeezed Loki just a little tighter. "I thought perhaps...." Loki sighed.  
"That I had perished on Asgard with your sister?" Loki asked as he slipped out from under Thor's arms and over to the table that held the bottles of drink. "I'm not that easy to kill dear brother." He said as he poured himself a drink, picked up Thor's and took it over to him, handing it over as he sipped at his own.  
"How did you get off Asgard?" Thor asked as he watched his brother drink.  
"You know I can teleport between space and time. Trivial tricks such as that take no energy at all." Loki declared as he finished his drink and placed the glass back on the table.  
"Brother," Thor mumbled. "I want to thank you properly, for helping our people get off Asgard." Loki scoffed and refused to look in Thor's direction, choosing instead to fiddle with the bottles. They stood there in silence for a long few moments, Thor staring at Loki's back and Loki refusing to look in Thor's direction. Until there was a noise at Thor's door, and both brothers turned to see Heimdall standing in the doorway, taking up nearly all the available space just by standing there.  
"Sorry to interrupt, My King, but your people have some questions they wish to ask. The main being, where do we go from here?" Heimdall relayed, his orange eyes skimming over the brothers slowly.  
"Yes, yes of course." Thor answered and started to walk toward Heimdall. "Coming brother?" He asked, not even turning to look at Loki. The God of Mischief sighed and turned to follow his idiot of a not-brother into the main room of the ship where all the homeless people of Asgard were gathered to hear from their King.

The gathering had gone well, as had the planned destination. None of the Asgardians had an issue with Earth being their new home, though Loki thought it a very bad idea to take him back there, especially with Thor's friends, The Avengers, pretty much hating him.  
Loki found himself standing on the observation deck, staring out into the stars and thinking about what would happen when we finally got to Thor's beloved planet, and when The Avengers found out that Thor had brought him along with him.  
Loki was debating the merits of leaving again, but every time he looked at Thor his heart tugged him a little closer to just giving in and flinging himself at his brother as he used to. Except Thor wasn't actually his brother, and Loki knew that the feelings were not that simple.  
As Loki leaned against the window he heard footsteps approach, not turning, already knowing who it was.  
"Good evening, Heimdall." Loki greeted, his head resting on the window. "How can I help you?"  
"I know I am speaking out of turn, but I must warn you that leaving would hurt him more than anything else you could ever do to him. He needs his brother right now." Heimdall informed him.  
"Ah. But there in lies the problem, Heimdall. I am not Thor's brother. I am not Odin's son. I am just a Jotun interloper." Loki spits, quiet but no less vicious, not even bothering to hide his distane for the word brother.  
"It has never mattered to Thor that you are not blood related to him, he will always see you as his little brother." Heimdall countered.  
Loki finally looks over his shoulder at Heimdall, rolling his eyes in the process. "Maybe I don't want him to see me as a brother." He admitted, his voice weak and almost too quiet for Heimdall to hear.  
"Maybe you should tell him that." Heimdall offered before walking away, heading toward the small barracks that had been set up for the soldiers of Asgard, and where Heimdall's room had been set up.  
This left Loki alone once again, contemplating everything that had happened over the past few days. Odin's death, Hela's release and her rampage through Asgard, his and Thor's stint on Sakaar, his betrayal, and then his change of heart, the battle with Hela, starting Ragnarok, saving an entire planets worth of people. It had felt good to help the people of Asgard, even if most of them had never treated him as a Prince should have been treated, even if most of them had called him unmanly for his sorcery.  
Though, as with the issue with the Dark Elves and the Aether, he hadn't done it for them, he had done it for Thor. Because for some stupid, unfathomable reason, Thor was embedded in Loki's heart. Thor had burrowed deep into his heart, and Loki wasn't even sure when exactly it had happened. But now it didn't seem to matter. Thor would always and forever see him as his weak little brother, in need of protecting, or in need of a watchful eye so as he didn't do anything to outrageous. Loki hated it. Hated the feeling of Thor's eyes on his back whenever the Thunderer thought he was being duplicitous or plotting. He wanted everything to go back to how things were before Thor had been banished to Earth, but he also wanted to keep Thor exactly how he was now. He knew that he could never have both, but that didn't stop his traitorous brain from thinking up scenarios.  
Thor sitting at a banquet table and smiling as Loki walks up and sits on his right side, Thor defending him against any who would diminish his magic, Thor insisting he spar with Loki whenever the desire struck, Thor sitting on the floor by Loki's bed and insisting that Loki read whatever text he was studying aloud just because Thor liked the sound of Loki's voice.  
And yet, Loki was too scared to try and repair things between himself and the Thunderer. Nothing was ever simple for Loki, something was bound to go wrong. And them being stuck on this ship until they reached Earth, and who knew how long that would be, Loki did not want to start any conflicts between him and Thor.  
Loki was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't hear the footfalls this time, which allowed Thor to sneak up on his brother for the first time in a long while. "Hello brother." Thor said, announcing his presence and making Loki jump a little and turn around to face him.  
"Thor. You startled me." Loki admitted as he regained his composure.  
"I am sorry, that was not my intention." Thor apologized.  
"What was your intention then, oh King?" Loki asked as he turned back to face the window, and the beautiful stars that spread out before the ship as they flew silently through space.  
"I wish to seek your councle. Do you think I made the right decision?" Thor's voice sounded weary, like he hadn't been sleeping much, and it pulled at those feelings deep in Loki's chest.  
"I think Earth is the best option for the Asgardian people, yes." Loki says, but Thor knew there was something Loki was not saying.  
"You hold something back, please don't. I need your help." Thor said, his voice pleading but not quite begging.  
"Well, let me ask you a question. Do you think it a good idea to bring me back to Earth? After all, those friends of yours won't be happy about having me back on their planet." Loki intones.  
"I believe that once I explain to them everything you have done to help me since the incident in New York, they will understand that you have changed, and that you are helping." Thor said confidently.  
"Have I though?" Loki's voice was quiet again, even quieter than when he had been talking to Heimdall. "Have I changed? I pretended to be Odin for nearly two years, Thor. I would have kept up the act for as long as I possibly could if you hadn't come back and challenged me. I've become predictable when it comes to you. Who's to say the cycle won't repeat, that I won't betray you again?" Loki blabbered, his heart racing in his chest. He couldn't bring himself to raise his eyes to meet Thor's, but he knew his not-brother well, and knew that he most likely looked bewildered and wary.  
"Loki, you came back for our people. You helped. That's a start at least." Thor placed a hand on Loki's shoulder. "Please, brother, I know that you can be the person you want to be, whoever that is, and I know that they are a good person. Just remember, we grew up together, I know you better than anyone else." Thor's words were thick in his throat, like something was constricting his words. Loki finally let his eyes turn from the stars to his not-brother.  
"How could you possibly know that?" He asked, his voice skeptical.  
"Because I've seen the good you can do, Loki. When we were kids and you were first learning your seidr and I'd interrupt your reading insisting you show me a trick, you never complained, you just showed me whatever it was you had learned that day, and it was always something new. And then as we grew older and I started learning how to fight in a ring instead of just with wooden swords against tutors who always took it easy on me, you were there, with a book in hand perhaps, but you were there to give me support. And yes, maybe as adults your actions have been somewhat more aggressive but I know that in here," Thor places a hand on Loki's chest, right above his heart. "In here you are still the brother that protected me from a blow that would have knocked me unconscious in the ring, still the brother that helped me train, the brother that knocked a woman he despised out of the way of danger because he knew it would hurt me to see her in such danger. You are kind when you want to be, Loki. You have a great capacity for good, and that is why I know things will work out when we get to Earth." Loki didn't know where Thor got his optimism from, but wherever it had come from he was sure he hadn't gotten any. Loki had always been prepared for the worst case scenario because that was what seemed to happen to him. The worst possible things.  
"If you say so, Thor." He said, not wanting to start an argument with the Thunderer so soon after getting back to a place where Thor kind of trusted him.

The journey to Earth went better than Loki had thought it would. The Aesir had banded together to start setting things up for their new life. Thor had been doing a spectacular job as King, though his real test would be when they finally made it to Earth and he has to negotiate a place for their people to live.  
He and Thor had been getting along as well as they had when they were children, but there was something new there, something that Loki couldn't quite put his finger on. Thor had been acting odd around him since their talk about taking him to Earth, like he had given something away, something he didn't want Loki to know, but he couldn't think of what it was, as Thor had already told him he thought the world of him. What could be more revealing than that?  
Loki sighed and flung himself down onto the bed he had claimed, in a room just down the hall from Thor's. He had been healing people all day and he was exhausted, his sedir was low and all his body wanted was sleep, but there is a knock on his door. Loki groaned, stood and walked over, flinging open the door to find Thor on the other side.  
"What? I'm tired, Thor, I really need to sleep." He almost whined as he left the door open and walked back over to his bed, collapsing back onto it face first. He heard a laugh from where Thor stood as he shut the door.  
"I just wanted to check in with you. Heimdall informed me that you almost collapsed in the healing room today." He offered as an explanation.  
"Yes, well....there are a lot of people who need to be healed." Loki's words are muffled by his pillow, and Thor rolled his eyes knowing full well that his brother can't see him. "I can feel you rolling your eyes at me, Thor." Loki's muffled voice drifted over to Thor as he stepped closer to his brothers bed, watching him nuzzle further into his pillow.  
"You always did know when I was making faces at you." Thor mused. "I never did figure out how you did it." Loki chuckled into his pillow.  
"My seidr allows me to see all things around my person. I may not be looking at you, Thor, but I can still see you." Thor immediately stopped moving, his hand outstretched toward Loki.  
"So, every time I snuck up on you when we were children...?"  
"Was because I let you, yes." Loki confirmed.  
"You couldn't have let me go on believing that I'd actually snuck up on you?" Thor demanded.  
"You did pretty much ask how I did it." Loki defended, turning on his side so he could look at Thor. "You didn't just come in here to check up on me, you know all I need is sleep when my seidr is low. Why are you really here, Thor?" Thor looked down like he'd been caught in a lie.  
"I did want to make sure you were alright....but, also," Thor looked around a little sheepishly. "I can't sleep." He admitted. Loki looked at him as if he'd grown another head.  
"And you came here to make sure I didn't sleep either?" Loki asked incredulously.  
"No! No, of course not. I just....I was thinking of when we were younger, and remembered that I used to climb into bed with you if I couldn't sleep, or vise versa." Thor was fidgeting now. "And I thought....maybe...."  
"It would help you sleep now if you crawled into bed with me?" Thor mumbled some unintelligible words, then after a few seconds nodded.  
"I suppose so, yes." Thor finally looked back at Loki. "Stupid idea?"  
"Just get into bed, Thor." Loki said as he closed his eyes again.  
Thor didn't answer, instead choosing to follow Loki's instructions instead and crawling into bed next to him. They hadn't done this since they were children. Then again, they hadn't done a lot of things since they were children.  
Thor lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling, thinking back to the last time he had been in the same bed as his brother. He had been about fourteen and Loki, two years younger, had been twelve. They had just started their separate training, Thor for weapons, Loki for his seidr with their mother. That night Thor had been exhausted, but he found he couldn't fall asleep, so he had snuck into Loki's room, only to find that Loki was the same. He had crawled into bed with his brother then and in a matter of minutes they had both been a sleep.When their mother had found them the next morning, she'd said it had been because they had never spent a day apart before.  
Thor supposed that was part of the reason he had thought to come to Loki when he couldn't sleep, because for the first time in a very long time, he actually could lay next to his brother and fall asleep. And as he looked over to his brother, laying on his side facing him, eyes closed, eyelashes casting shadows on his cheeks.  
Thor was aware of his brothers looks, knew that he was a beautiful person, knew that he wasn't the only one who had noticed. But he also knew that he was the only one to ever see Loki like this.  
Don't get Thor wrong, he knew that Loki had had partners before, both men and women, but he was sure that none of them had ever had the privilege of seeing Loki asleep....vulnerable. And he felt honored that his brother trusted him enough to be as such around him.  
Thor smiled as he turned on his side, facing his brother. He reached out and brushed an errant curl from Loki's forehead, causing Loki to grumble in his sleep, reaching up to grasp Thor's hand and cradle it against his chest. Thor's smile grew as he tucked his other hand under his head and drifted off to sleep just as easily as he had when they were children.

It took a while to get to Earth, but when they did, they were greeted by Thor's friends all pointing their weapons at the ship as it landed exactly where Odin had passed from this world.  
"I would say I told you so, but then you are already thinking it aren't you, Thor?" Loki said with a smirk as they watched his friends surround the ship from the observation deck.  
"Oh, shut up, Loki. They'll calm down once I've explained what happened." Thor said, sounding sure of himself.  
"Well, out you go then. Explain that you had to bring an entire planet to Earth because your psychopath of a sister made us destroy Asgard. Then tell them that, as well as your entire people, you also brought back your psychopathic brother." Thor turned a glare on Loki.  
"We've had this discussion, Loki." Thor said, his annoyance dripping into his voice. "Once I explain, and once they have a chance to get to know you properly, they will welcome you as they did me." Loki scoffed.  
"If you say so." He conceded as he gestured to the exit of the ship. "Go on then, go talk to them." Thor sighed, but obliged, walking over to the exit and out of the ship.  
As soon as he stepped out, everyone lowered their weapons and hollered at the God they hadn't seen in an age.  
"Thor!" That was Tony, shut away in his Iron Man suit. "What the hell's up with the ship?" He asked as he stepped closer to Thor, taking his mask off so he could look Thor in the eye.  
"It is a long story, Tony. Would you mind telling your friends to stand down?" Thor asked, looking behind Tony at the team he had brought with him.  
"Oh shit, right. Guys, stand down, Thor's a friendly." All the soldiers lowered their weapons.  
"Thank you." Thor said as he cast a worried glance over his shoulder at the ships entrance and saw his people standing there. "A lot has happened since we last met, Tony. My people need a home, Asgard is no more. I will tell you everything, but first, I must talk to someone about a place for my people. Preferably right here." Thor says as he watches Loki hover in the middle of the group of Asgardians. Thor turned back to look at Tony, and saw the recognition in his eyes and noted that he was raising his hand.  
"No!" Thor grabbed Tony's hand. "He isn't a threat, not anymore. He helped me save our people. He's helped me the entire journey here." Thor looked over his shoulder again, seeing Loki leaning against the entrance of the ship. "He is still the same Loki, but he is helping instead of hindering. Please, Tony, don't take him from me, I need him." Tony looked at Thor a little oddly for a minute but nodded all the same.  
"I don't trust him Thor. He needs to be watched." Thor nodded.  
"He won't be too far from our people, or from me. I just got him back, I won't be letting him out of my sight for a while yet." Tony cocked his head a little as he watched Thor.  
"Does he know how you feel about him?" He asked Thor, who startled at the question.  
"I don't know what you mean." Thor said, not at all convincingly.  
"It's okay, Thor. We don't choose who we fall in love with." Tony said. "Trust me, I know that better than most." Thor frowns.  
"Love? No, no he is my brother." Thor tried to believe his own words, but they were hollow.  
"Not by blood, as you've told us. Thor, trust me, it's better to tell him, before you loose him again, and can never tell him." Tony looked at Thor sympathetically. "I understand, I'll talk to whomever owns this land and see if we can't come to some arrangement. Take care of your people, Thor." Tony gave him a little nod, turned to the soldiers and started giving them orders to head back to base.  
Thor on the other hand, hadn't taken his eyes off of Loki. Of course he loved Loki, he was his brother, he had loved him since his parents had introduced him to the tiny baby they had told him was his brother. But was he actually in love with Loki? Was that why he had spent nearly the entire time on their way here constantly looking for him? At the time he had told himself that it was because he didn't quite trust Loki yet. But perhaps Tony was right.  
Loki tilted his head, breaking Thor out of his musings and making him realize that he had been staring, and he started to panic a bit when Loki started walking over to him.  
"So, am I to be carted off in chains then?" Loki asked as he stepped up beside Thor.  
"No, though Tony did express some concern and asked for someone to keep an eye on you." Thor informed him. Loki snorted.  
"Someone to 'keep an eye on' me huh? And who would you put in charge of such an undertaking? Surely not Heimdall as I have proven many a time that I can slip his gaze whenever I like." Loki pointed out.  
"Well, I rather thought you could just stay by my side, and I could keep an eye on you myself." Thor suggested, still panicking internally.  
"That is one way you could do it I suppose. And you wouldn't have to worry about me killing the person watching me." Loki joked with a small chuckle.  
"That isn't funny, Loki." Thor growled.  
"Oh come now, Thor. You need a sense of humor." Loki suggested.  
"Why would I need a sense of humor when I have yours?" Thor said with a smirk.  
"You can't use me forever Thor." Loki said seriously, looking down at his hands, refusing to look up even when Thor places his hand on Loki's shoulder gently.  
"Loki....If I have ever used you throughout our lives then I am terribly sorry. I never meant to, I just always....well I always thought we would stay together. Like I've said before, I thought the world of you." Loki gave a humorless laugh.  
"Key word there, Thor. Thought." Loki finally meets Thor's eyes, but only for a split second before walking off.

Tony had been a man of his word, he had talked to the people who 'owned' the land so to speak and had explained everything. They were very keen to help the Gods that most of their myths and legends had come from.  
It had been four months since they had landed in the field their father had died in, and their people were thriving, tending the land as they had on Asgard, building homes was slow goings but they still had the ship while they were building.  
And Thor had honored his word to Tony, and had kept Loki by his side almost constantly, except when they were sleeping. Thor hadn't slipped into Loki's bed again since they'd been on the ship.  
Loki had been spending most of his time teaching young Asgardians with magical talents how to heal so he wouldn't be the only one healing an entire populous. He had also noticed that Thor's friends, when they came to visit, always kept their distance and at the same time always kept their eyes on him. He was starting to get really annoyed at this whole 'keeping an eye on him' business. But he kept his issues close to his chest.  
That was, until that woman showed up. Which Loki didn't understand at all after the melodrama on the street with Thor's fans giving him sympathy over their break-up.  
Loki watched as she walked over to Thor, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him directly on the lips. Loki tried to look away, but his head wouldn't turn, his eyes wouldn't look away. Until there was a small scream from a few feet away from him and a cry of 'Jotun!' from a young Asgardian who was looking at him.  
And when Loki looked down at his hands he saw that they had turned blue, and he knew that his eyes would be red and that there would be tribal lines all over his body. His eyes darted around the small group of Asgardians that had been standing near him waiting for his lessons to start and immediately turned and ran toward the small forest that he had magically helped to grow the first month they had been here.  
He heard Thor's voice yell his name but refused to turn, refused to stop running, so as no one would see the tears that had started to form in his eyes. Because surely this would spread through the rest of the Asgardian people and he would be cast out once again. He had barely survived it the first time, being away from his people....the people he felt he belonged to but truly didn't belong anywhere near.  
This was all that woman's fault. If he had only let the elves have her, she wouldn't have been able to make him jealous, wouldn't have made his glamour slip.  
Once he reached the forest he realized he couldn't do what he would usually do, because climbing a tree involved touching it and in the mood he was in he would probably freeze anything he touched solid. He breathed slowly through his mouth, trying and failing to calm himself enough for the glamour to slide back into place, but his seidr refused to cooperate and the tears that had formed started to spill down his cheeks.  
The situation turned from horrible to disastrous when he heard footsteps behind him that could only be Thor because no one else would have followed him.  
"Brother?" Thor's voice was gentle but also careful. He expected a fight.  
"Don't call me that." Loki hissed, not turning to face Thor, not wanting him to see that Loki was crying.  
"But you are. This doesn't change anything Loki. We grew up together, you are my brother." Thor said, like some practiced line, something he had repeated to himself before saying it out loud.  
"No. Not like this. I'm a monster like this." Loki whispered, staring down at his hands, memorizing the lines and grooves that twined up and into his sleeves, and even further.  
"You have never been a monster, Loki. You never will be." Thor's voice was closer now, right by Loki's shoulder. "Please turn around. Look at me." There was a hint of begging in Thor's voice now.  
"No." Loki shook his head adamantly. "I never want you to see me like this." He growled. "You never would have if that woman hadn't kissed you." He said bitterly.  
"Jane? You dropped your glamour because Jane kissed me?" Thor asked.  
"I didn't mean to drop my glamour! I hate this form! Why would I ever want to look like the father who wanted me dead, the race that I grew up learning were Asgard's greatest enemy?! And now all of our....your people know what I truly am. I will be cast out again." The tears started anew and Loki's shoulders shook from suppressed sobs.  
"No, Loki. You will not be cast out ever again. Once we explain it to our people, they will understand." Thor was so close that Loki could feel the heat coming off his body. "And if you want my opinion, I think you look marvelous like this." Thor said with a grin he now knew his brother could see even if he wasn't facing him.  
"False flattery will get you nowhere." Loki huffed.  
"It is not false. Flattery, yes. But not false. You are beautiful, Loki. You must know this." Thor said honestly, remembering Tony's words. Loki just shakes his head again, wringing his hands until they turn an odd reddish-blue colour, Loki having rubbed them raw. Thor grabbed his hands roughly in his own, pulling Loki's apart so he couldn't rub them anymore. "Stop. Loki, you are one of the most beautiful creatures I've ever layed eyes on, in this form or your Aesir form." Loki's eyes are wide now and he attempted to pull his hands from Thor's, but the King would not let go.  
"Thor, let go of my hands! You're going to get burnt!" Loki tried even harder to wrench his hands from Thor's.  
"But you aren't. Burning me. Look, Loki." Thor held their hands up so Loki could see them. Loki's hands were wrapped in Thor's bigger ones, but what was utterly amazing about the sight was that Thor's hand's didn't have frostbite. Loki wasn't hurting Thor.  
"What....But...." Loki frowned. "I'm Jotun, I should be hurting you." Loki insisted.  
"I don't think you would ever truly hurt me, Loki." Thor tells him softly. "I think that even in your Jotun form, your seidr keeps you from hurting me because you don't truly wish to hurt me." Thor sounds so sure. "And as for Jane....Loki she could never compare to you." Thor all but whispers, as he lifted Loki's hands to his mouth, kissing the knuckles gently.  
This time Loki succeeds in yanking his hands out of Thor's. "This is cruel even for you, Thor." Loki said with a glare and took a few measured steps backwards.  
"I....I am not trying to be cruel, Loki." Thor said as he tried to close the distance between them, but Loki just kept stepping away.  
"Then why say something you know will only end up hurting me?!" Loki yelled. "Why say something that will get my hopes up only to have them dashed to pieces like they always are?" He finished.  
"Hopes?" Thor asked as he watched Loki bump up against a tree. He stopped advancing on Loki, leaving a few feet between them. "Loki....I think I should have told you this a very long time ago, but I've only just realized it myself....I....well." Thor sighed, he didn't understand why this was so hard to say. "I love you, Loki." He breathed in a great gulp of air, letting the words sit there between them, watching Loki's face as his eyes widened and then narrowed.  
"Yes, yes. You love me like a brother, I am aware. Someone you can always outshine, right? Just go away, Thor." Loki covered his face with his hands and sunk to the ground to sit at the base of the tree. Thor covered the remaining distance between them and knelt down next to Loki.  
"No. I'm not going anywhere. And I don't mean it like that. I meant exactly what I said, Loki. I love you. I am in love with you. It may have taken someone else pointing it out to me for it to finally sink in, but it is the truth and I will not hide from it any longer." Thor reached out once again to try and pull Loki's hands away from his face but found he could not touch Loki in any way. He seemed to have surrounded himself in his seidr. "Loki, please. Look at me, look me in the eye. You can always tell when I'm lying to you so just look." Thor was definitely begging now, Loki could hear it.  
He looked up and saw the shine to Thor's eyes that told him that Thor was close to tears himself. Loki looked into Thor's eyes and saw no malice, no deception. Thor wasn't lying, he was being honest.  
"But....that woman...." Loki stuttered.  
"Jane meant a lot to me once, but she has never meant as much to me as you do, Loki. Maybe you didn't notice, but I weaved strands of your hair into one of my braids to keep you close after I thought you had died. I have bracers that hold the mark of your helmet. Loki, I carry you everywhere I go, how could anyone hold a candle to you?" Thor mentioning the braid made Loki think back to when Thor had been locked in the Grandmaster's chair. He focused on Thor's hair, and low and behold, there it was. Braided into Thor's hair were strands of long black locks. His. Thor had....but that meant....Asgardians only did that with people they truly loved.  
"You....love me?" Loki asked, still not letting himself fully believe it. "After everything I've done to you?"  
"Short of killing me, Loki, there is nothing that will make me stop loving you." Thor said, resting his hand on the seidr barrier between them.  
"Let's say I believe you." Loki grants. "What happens then? All of Asgard will know of my true heritage by tomorrow morning at the latest, they will never accept me." Thor smiled and leaned in closer.  
"You saved them. It won't matter after we explain what Father did, they will understand that even though you may have been born Jotun, you were raised Aesir. That, and the fact that I choose you to stand at my side, is all that will matter in the end. Please, Loki, let down this barrier. Let me in."  
Loki hesitates for a moment more. "If you are wrong, I will leave. And I will kill you if you follow." Loki threatens.  
"Accepted." Thor said, confident that he wasn't wrong. He felt the barrier shimmer and then his hand fell through and landed on Loki's chest. "I know you don't need me to, but I will protect you, Loki." Thor tried to assure.  
"You are correct, I do not need your protection...." Loki's cheeks turn the same strange reddish-blue as his hands had been, a charming blush infusing his skin. "But....I wouldn't mind having it all the same." He said not looking up at Thor. Thor grinned widely.  
"Then you will always have it." Thor promised, his hand passing warmth into Loki's chest. "Loki....I know this may be an odd question, considering the conversation we just had....but, will you let me kiss you?" Thor asked nervously. Loki did look up then, his eyes wide.  
"I....you....well, I suppose....if you must." Loki stutters, Thor had never seen him so nervous before. With permission granted, Thor leaned in and pressed his lips gently to Loki's blue ones, and at that first touch the blue started to seep from Loki's skin, leaving him looking like his Aseir self again.  
"Loki, you're changing back." He said as he cupped Loki's cheeks in his hands, warming them as he leaned in for another kiss, this one deeper, and when Thor's tongue danced along Loki's bottom lip, the younger readily opened his lips and allowed Thor entrance. They stayed like that, leisurely kissing, for what felt like hours but was more likely only a few minutes, and when they pulled away from each other, breathing heavily, Thor immediately noticed that Loki had fully transformed back into his Aesir form.  
"There you are. My beautiful brother." Thor joked and received a punch in the arm for his trouble.  
"You said I was beautiful in either form." Loki argued. "And don't you think it's a little odd, you calling me brother after just kissing me senseless?"  
"Senseless? I don't think that is even remotely possible. And you will always be my brother, Loki. I just won't say it around other people anymore, they may get the wrong impression." Loki laughs.  
"Oh the things I could say to that, brother dear." Loki said, still chuckling.  
"And that is why you are the God of Mischief." Thor said smugly.  
"Among other reasons." Loki conceded.  
"Come, we have a people to face, and I have a woman to discuss proper etiquette with." Loki's eyes narrow.  
"If she so much as touches you again, I will not be held responsible for my actions." Loki warns.  
"I promise, I will keep my distance." Thor runs a hand down Loki's cheek. "Like I said, she cannot compare to you." Thor leans in and kissed Loki again, keeping it gentle.  
"My threat still stands, Thor. She touches you...." Thor nods.  
"I understand, Loki." Thor pulled Loki into a hug. "You know, I kind of like being able to hug you without the threat of a knife looming over my head." Thor said with a grin.  
"I can still decide to stab you, Thor." Loki threatens. "Loving you has never stopped me before, has it?" Thor chuckles at this.  
"No, I suppose not." Thor sighed. "Come on, let's get back." Loki held on a little longer, but let go, straightened his clothes, and nodded.  
"Alright, let's go." Loki turned and walked back the way they had come, but after a few seconds he realized that Thor wasn't following him. He turned to see Thor just standing there, staring. "What?" Loki asked.  
"You just have a really nice arse, that's all." Thor said with a smirk.  
"Oh for the love of....come on, Thor." Loki sighed and extended his hand to Thor, who grinned and walked over, took his hand and led Loki back out into the sunshine, and their home.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've ever posted so please give some feedback!  
> Unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own.


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